23 minute video
The reason why I am posting this video is that we need to let our leaders know that it is not OK for our food fields to be sprayed with poisons that cause multiple human consquences that need not be relived due to the greed and the obvious genocide that is happening on this planet. We Americans are part of the plan. We need to step up and not be victims of such bad behavior, if not for us, for all the children. Sign the petition. Do your part, educate yourself. When this time on the planet is said and done what will you be able to answer if a young one asks “What did you do?”
Stop Agent Orange GMOs!
Tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack Not to Approve New 2,4-D-Resistant GMO Crops
Please take action today! Petitions will be delivered on December 11!*
Remember Agent Orange? The 2,4-D chemical concoction commissioned by the U.S. Army to defoliate jungles and destroy food crops during the Vietnam War? It could soon be coming to a grocery store near you. Within a week, the USDA could approve Dow’s new “Enlist” brand corn, genetically engineered to resist massive doses of the herbicide 2,4-D. Unless we stop it.
The list of reasons to tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to reject Dow’s Agent Orange Corn is long. A large body of evidence indicates major health problems result from exposure to 2,4-D, including cancer, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity, and auto-immune disorders. And 2,4-D is devastating to the environment. It’s currently the seventh largest source of dioxin pollution in the US. The use of this toxic herbicide is projected to increase 50-fold if the USDA approves this crop.
The USDA has already received more than 450,000 comments opposing Dow’s new GE corn. But it has a long history of avoiding protests and bad press by issuing unpopular decisions right before the holidays.
Thanks to Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto lobbyist who now heads up the FDA, genetically engineered foods don’t have to be safety tested or labeled. Worse yet, the FDA conducts no premarket review or approval, as long as the biotech company concludes that the genetically engineered food is not “materially different” from normal food. That essentially means a rubber stamp for Dow’s Agent Orange corn. Soon, we’ll be eating unlabeled corn engineered with genes from a soil bacterium that isn’t killed by 2,4-D — something we’ve never eaten before and that’s never been safety tested.
Please take action today to stop new 2,4-D resistant genetically engineered crops!
United States Department of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack, Secretary, USDA
Subject: Docket No. APHIS-2012-0032; APHIS-2012-0019; APHIS-2012-0047
Dear Secretary Vilsack,
We are writing to urge you to reject applications for a new generation of genetically engineered crops designed to survive repeated spraying of the herbicides dicamba and 2,4-D.
Dow’s application to deregulate 2,4-D corn is the first of 13 genetically engineered crops in the pipeline for USDA approval. It is on your desk now, and Monsanto’s application for dicamba-resistant soy — along with Dow’s 2,4-D soy — is not far behind.
Simply put, these herbicide-resistant seeds are a bad idea. Allowing them on the market will drive up use of antiquated, dangerous herbicides that are associated with serious health harms. 2,4-D specifically has been linked to cancer, reproductive toxicity and endocrine disruption.
The dramatic rise in glyphosate use in conjunction with RoundUp Ready crops tells us that widespread planting of herbicide-resistant seed — like 2,4-D corn and dicamba soybeans — will inevitably lead to a surge in the application of these hazardous herbicides.
Since both 2,4-D and dicamba are known to drift — directly and through volatilization — increased use poses a very real threat to rural economies and farmers growing crops not engineered to withstand application of these potent chemicals. Conventional farmers could lose crops, while organic farmers could lose both crops and certification, resulting in an economic unraveling of already-stressed rural communities.
Dicamba and 2,4-D-resistant crops follow the same short-sighted approach to farming taken by Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready seed line. The RoundUp Ready seed line is responsible for a dramatic rise in glyphosate-resistant “superweeds” that have afflicted millions of acres of farmland across the Midwest and South. Please don’t make the same mistake in approving a new generation of herbicide-resistant crops that will lead to more superweeds, placing even more burden on farmers.
We urge USDA to reject Dow’s petition for approval of its 2,4-D-resistant seeds, and Monsanto’s dicamba-resistant soybean that is next in line. And we call on your Agency to instead devote more attention to research and development of safe and smart 21st century ecological approaches to weed management. These approaches can protect public health, conserve the environment and assure sustainable crop production by America’s farmers for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Thanks for taking action!
*If you’re near Des Moines, Iowa…
Please join Iowa farmers George Naylor and Denise O’Brien as we deliver thousands of petition signatures to the USDA office in Des Moines asking Secretary Vilsack reject 2,4 d corn.
Join us in Des Moines on December 11!
Where: 210 Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA (meet in the lobby of the federal building)
When: 10am, December 11, 2012
What: Petition delivery and press statements
We hope you can make it! If you’re planning to come, RSVP to linda@panna.org so we’ll look for you.
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